China Food Safety: Authority: 97.6% food passed checks in 2017

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China's Food and Drug Administration says the country's food safety rate in 2017 was higher than the previous two years. Of the thousands of batches checked, 2.4 percent was found to be below safety standards. Wu Guoxiu reports.

What do you think about if you were told 2.4 percent of the food you ate last year wasn't safe? China's top food safety watchdog says 97.6 percent of samples tested last year met safety standards. This is 0.8 percent higher than 2016 and 2015. The inspectors checked 230 thousand batches of food, and recalled over a thousand tons.

SUN MEIJUN, DEPUTY CHIEF CHINA FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION "32.7 percent of below-standard samples had microbial contamination issues. 23.9 percent had food additives problems, 9.6 percent pesticide and veterinary drug problems and 8 percent heavy-metal contamination issues."

Food safety is of major public concern in China, following scares in previous years like melamine in milk and Sudan red in eggs. The authority focused on these problems in particular. The safety rate for baby formula last year was 99.5 percent, with the main problems concerning tags. Melamine hasn't been detected in the past nine years. Sudan Red hasn't been found in egg products for 4 years.

SUN MEIJUN, DEPUTY CHIEF CHINA FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION "Aside from daily checks, we also checked big companies. We took action to address major problems. We investigated and dealt with almost 260 thousand food safety cases last year."

But even a 0.1 percent rate of unsafety in food means a hundred percent risk for consumers. The authority says they plan to check five times more batches in 2018. Wu Guoxiu, CGTN, Beijing.